Heidmark
Encyclopedia
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
, much of which has not been accessible to the population since about 1935/1936. The establishment of a large military training area (Truppenübungsplatzes Bergen) by the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, as part of their rearmament and preparation for war resulted in the evacuation of 24 villages and, since then the training area has been out-of-bounds to non-military personnel. Today it has become the Bergen-Hohne Training Area
Bergen-Hohne Training Area
Bergen-Hohne Training Area is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers an area of , which makes it the largest military training area in Germany.It was established by the German armed forces, the...
, the largest of its kind in Europe.
Geographical location of the Heidmark
The region of 'Heytmarke' was recorded in the Celle VogteiVogtei
Vogtei could be:* The residenz or domain of a Vogt* Vogtei , a municipal association in the Unstrut-Hainich district of Thuringia, Germany....
registers as early as the 15th century. It belonged to the district office (Amtsvogtei) of Fallingbostel and comprised the parishes of Fallingbostel, Dorfmark, Meinerdingen and Düshorn including Ostenholz. Today it refers to the region between Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel
Bad Fallingbostel is the district town of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of Bad since 5 August 2002. It has close ties to Walsrode, a few miles to the west...
, Soltau
Soltau
- Middle Ages :The region of the Lüneburg Heath had already been settled by the start of the New Stone Age about 4,000 years ago. The Soltau area was initially occupied by a few individual farms. The parish of Soltau was probably founded around 830 and the first wooden church Sante Johannis...
and Bergen which, since the creation of the military training area in 1935/1936 has been largely closed to the public. The centre point of the Heidmark was Fallingbostel.
History of the Heidmark
The folk in the area around the Sieben SteinhäuserSieben Steinhäuser
The Sieben Steinhäuser is a group of five dolmens on the Lüneburg Heath in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture...
and the Falkenberg suffered much during the Thirty Years War, especially in those villages that lay on the routes taken by the Army. The life of its farmers was for a long time dependent on sheep farming
Heidschnucke
The Heidschnucke is a group of three types of moorland sheep from northern Germany. Like a number of other types from Scandinavia and Great Britain, they are Northern European short-tailed sheep...
, but this faded into the background during the first half of the 19th century and the whole landschape changed and fields were cultivated on the heathland with its loamy, sandy soils. The herds of moorland sheep, the Heidschnucke
Heidschnucke
The Heidschnucke is a group of three types of moorland sheep from northern Germany. Like a number of other types from Scandinavia and Great Britain, they are Northern European short-tailed sheep...
, disappeared as the tracts of heathland were afforested and made way for plantations of beech, oak and spruce, resulting in the emergence of mixed woods. Many attempts were made in the eastern Heidmark to make economic progress. The discovery of artificial fertiliser enabled the heathland farmers to become genuinely self-sufficient. They earned more income from their fields and were able to sell grain and fruit.
Crafts were an important source of income and employment in the Heidmark. It was especially common in Oerbke
Oerbke
Oerbke is an unparished German village in Soltau-Fallingbostel district in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony. Oerbke lies on the A7 autobahn east of Bad Fallingbostel and is the seat of administration for the Osterheide area.- History :...
where there were numerous lines of work. As well as the farming and estate families, tradesmen also settled in the Heidmark and built estate houses and manor houses. In 2007 many of these manorial building are still standing. There are small village schools in the Heidmark, as well as several parishes and numerous societies.
When the 'relocation' took place from 1935 to 1938 in order to make way for a military training area for the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
, entier villages disappeared for ever from the map. Many people from the Heidmark had to leave their family homes which their families had lived in for centuries.
Seasonal migration to Holland
The heathland farmers lacked meadows and pastures. In order to ensure their economic survival, early on they had to acquire pastureland in the "Krelinger Bruch" far from their farmsteads, as can be seen from the register of wills of 1667. At harvest time they had to stay in the Bruch until all the hay was dry. That could take two weeks or more."Holland trippers" (Hollandgänger) were also mentioned in the records from 1786. These folk shouldered their scythe
Scythe
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass, or reaping crops. It was largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia. The Grim Reaper is often depicted carrying or wielding a scythe...
s and left in May on foot for Holland in order to mow in return for payment. The majority of these Hollandgänger were day labourers (Häuslinge) and were told to go and earn this extra income. After 1850 these trips to Holland gradually died away. The last "Holland tripper" from the eastern Heidmark is mentioned in the documents in 1865.
Hunting in the Heidmark
In ancient times, in addition to the ruler (the duke), the nobility had hunting rights in the Heidmark. The chief hunting rights in the Heidmark were granted to the von der Wense and von Hodenberg families.In the register of wills in 1667 it says:
- "Moreover, the von der Wense family have the freedom to shoot and have brought down deer and wild boar in their spruce forests, from which most noble lords are also not excluded. They may also, as far as their law and tradition allows, go hunting with the Strickjagd. The von Hodenbergs at Hudemühlen are entitled to bring down deer and wild boar in their own forests, but only permitted to use Strickjagd in the Amstvogtei of FallingbostelBad FallingbostelBad Fallingbostel is the district town of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of Bad since 5 August 2002. It has close ties to Walsrode, a few miles to the west...
, as far as their authority allows. And they may keep stores with their farmers and therefore attend the hunt twice a year, once in the grass season (between Easter and Midsummer) and once in the hay season (between Michaelmas and Christmas)... "
The farmers of the Heidmark, for whom hunting "was inherited from the blood of their forebears", as tradition has it, would have reimbursed themselves. They poached whenever they could. That was considered an unwritten right and not as a sin. Nevertheless the gendarmes had to track down the poacher
Poacher
Poacher may refer to:*One who engages in poaching, the theft or illegal killing of animals or plants*A device used for poaching *Poacher , a family of fish...
s and hand them over to the courts.
Justice in the Heidmark
Tradition has it that once Goding (thingsteads or Gogerichte) and Holting (forest courts or Holzgerichte) were convened in Dorfmark, Fallingbostel, Ostenholz and at the Heidhof. At the Heidhof sentences were passed in the manner of a vehmic court (Femegerichte). The last execution in the Heidmark was in 1777. However that has been passed by word of mouth from generation to generation, because the documents associated with it were destroyed in a fire in 1784. Over centuries it has been reported that the owner of the Jacobshof in Ahlften, Johann Hinrich Apenriep, who came from Castens Hof in Meimen, had collected the executioner, Holdorf, from Lüneburg and had driven him to Fallingbostel. Holdrof had then beheaded a woman or a girl.Church parishes in the Heidmark
For a very long time the lives of the heath farmers were closely linked to the churches. A deed by the Emperor, Otto III, of 7 May 986 documents that there were already churches and abbeys in Walsrode and Ahlden at that time. The church at Dorfmark was first mentioned in 1006. The other parishes were not mentioned in the records until later, however. For example: SchwarmstedtSchwarmstedt
Schwarmstedt is a municipality in the Heidekreis in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the confluence of the rivers Aller and Leine, approx. 20 km south of Bad Fallingbostel, and 30 km east of Nienburg...
was first mentioned in 1221, Düshorn in 1230, Meinerdingen in 1269 and Bierde
Bierde
Bierde is a village in the municipality of Böhme, Lower Saxony, that is part of Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony.- Bierder Burg :...
in the 15th century, but were probably established long before then.
The inhabitants of the Heidmark went through the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
in the reign of Duke Ernest the Confessor who had accepted Lutheran teaching early on. There were and are many churches and parishes in the Heidmark. These Evangelical-Lutheran parishes were and, to some extent still are, meeting places for the community.
Culture and places of interest
- in Bad FallingbostelBad FallingbostelBad Fallingbostel is the district town of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of Bad since 5 August 2002. It has close ties to Walsrode, a few miles to the west...
:- the Heidmarkhalle
- Museum of the Archaeological Society (Archäologischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft e.V.).
In the Megalithpark Osterberg large stones are exhibited, that were pushed into the Heidmark from Scandinavia by massive ice sheets during the ice ageIce ageAn ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s. - the Hof der Heidmark farmhouse with Rummelsburg Heimatstube, a Low German house in the Liethwald
- the Protestant St. Dionysius Church in the town centre
- the Quintus monument at St. Dionysius Church
- in OerbkeOerbkeOerbke is an unparished German village in Soltau-Fallingbostel district in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony. Oerbke lies on the A7 autobahn east of Bad Fallingbostel and is the seat of administration for the Osterheide area.- History :...
:- Cemetery of the Unknown Soldiers (Friedhof der Namenlosen), a war cemetery in which around 30,000 Russian prisoners-of-war from the Second World War are buried in mass graves
- in and near Ostenholz:
- Timber-framed church with a wooden tower dating from 1724
- Hoher Stein, a memorial to the evacuation of the villages in 1936 when the Nazi military training area was created
- the Sieben SteinhäuserSieben SteinhäuserThe Sieben Steinhäuser is a group of five dolmens on the Lüneburg Heath in the NATO training area of Bergen-Hohne, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. The stones are considered to be part of the funnelbeaker culture...
, neolithic dolmens in the south of the military training area
- in WenseWense (Osterheide)Wense is a village in the Heidmark in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 1935/1936 its inhabitants were 'relocated', because the German armed forces, the Wehrmacht, wanted to establish a vast military training area in the Heidmark, which today is the largest in Europe .Nowadays, Wense is in the...
:- Estate churche (Gutskapelle), a splendid church dating from 1558
- in VierdeVierdeVierde is a village within the borough of Bad Fallingbostel in Soltau-Fallingbostel district in the Heidmark .- History :...
:- Bronze Age gravesite.
- in DorfmarkDorfmarkThe village of Dorfmark is part of the borough of Bad Fallingbostel in the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony.Dorfmark has 3,469 inhabitants, over 22% of the borough's population, and an area of , some 24% of the total area in the borough.The River Böhme flows through Dorfmark...
:- the Protestant St. Martin's Church
- the grave of Erich von MansteinErich von MansteinErich von Manstein was a field marshal in World War II. He became one of the most prominent commanders of Germany's World War II armed forces...
- in FahrenholzFahrenholz (Heidmark)Fahrenholz was a village in the former district of Fallingbostel, located in the Heidmark in the German state of Lower Saxony. It was abandoned in 1935/1936 when the German Wehrmacht created the Bergen Training Area. Its inhabitants were resettled.- History :...
- Bronze Age tumuli
- NeolithicNeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
dolmen just before Krelingen
Literature
- Hans StuhlmacherHans StuhlmacherHans Albert Alexander Louis Carl Stuhlmacher was a German pedagogue, Wehrmacht officer and local historian.- Life and works :Hans Stuhlmacher was born on 16 May 1892 in Lüneburg, the son of a district court chancery clerk , Friedrich Stuhlmacher, and his wife, Emma, née Ebbeke...
: "Die Heidmark". 1939, Schneeheide. Verlag: C.V. Engelhard & Co.GmbH, Hannover - Hans Stuhlmacher: "Der Kreis Fallingbostel", 1935, Schneeheide, Verlag: Fritz Drescher, Möser bei Magdeburg, Druck: J. Gronemanns Buch-und Kunstdruckerei, Verlag der Walsroder Zeitung, Walsrode